Susie Wiles will be Donald Trump's chief of staff. Who is the so ...

US president-elect Donald Trump has appointed his campaign lead Susie Wiles as his incoming chief of staff. 

Ms Wiles, who is a veteran Florida political strategist, will move into the high-profile position as one of Trump's key members in his political inner circle. 

This will make her the first woman to ever step into the important role at the White House, tasked with bringing order to the next administration.

Ms Wiles, whose work has been mostly behind the scenes, was brought on stage by Trump during his victory speech earlier this week. 

She rejected Trump's offer to speak to the packed crowd, as Trump said "Suzie likes to stay in the background … we call her the ice maiden".

So what do we know about the Ms Wiles and Trump's history with chiefs of staff?

What does a chief of staff do? 

The chief of staff has a critical role as the president's confidant and gatekeeper, while also making sure the White House is running smoothly.

Consequently, this role typically has significant influence and involves a range of tasks and responsibilities.

This includes managing White House staff, organising the president's schedule and maintaining contact with other government departments. 

Overseeing the executive office, which is the president's closest advisers, also comes under the chief of staff's job.

A successful chief of staff will balance different political and policy priorities with the president's overall agenda.

So, who is Ms Wiles and what has she done? 

Ms Wiles, 67, started her political career in the 1970s working for Republican Jack Kemp before joining Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign. 

Ms Wiles, daughter of NFL player Pat Summerall, then headed to Florida where she advised two Jacksonville mayors and worked for Republican Tillie Fowler.

She then embarked in statewide political campaigns and also served as a senior adviser on Trump's 2016 presidential bid in Florida. 

In 2018, Ms Wiles helped Ron DeSantis become Florida’s governor but ties between the two started to fray.

Ms Wiles worked on Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign.    (Reuters: Brian Snyder)

This relationship breakdown led to Mr DeSantis urging Trump’s 2020 campaign to cuts its links with Ms Wiles, while she was leading the state campaign. 

She ended up running Trump’s primary campaign against Mr DeSantis and defeated the Florida governor. 

Trump's recent success as America's president-elect has been credited to the campaign run by Ms Wiles. 

Unlike past campaigns marked by backstabbing and turnover, Trump’s operation was widely praised for being his most competent and disciplined. 

Learning from past campaign mistakes, aides were careful to save money for the race’s final stretch. 

The campaign also took risks, including taking advantage of the support from billionaire Elon Musk, who was criticised for handing out $US1 million cheques to US voters.

What happened to Trump's past chiefs of staff? 

Trump ran through four chiefs of staff — an unusually high number — during his 2017 to 2021 term. 

Reince Priebus was Trump's first chief of staff during a time when the White House was in the spotlight for infighting. 

Mr Priebus was sometimes seen as untrustworthy by others who were competing for Trump's approval and he was pushed out after six months in the role. 

Mr Priebus (left) was replaced by General John Kelly (right) as White House chief of staff. (Reuters/AP)

Trump then appointed his Homeland Security secretary John Kelly, who was a former four-star Marine general.

It was Mr Kelly's immigration crackdown during his tine with Homeland Security that appealed to Trump initially. 

But he soon became frustrated by Mr Kelly's regimented approach to the White House and Trump eventually booted him from the position without having a replacement lined up.

While Mr Kelly served as chief of staff the longest, the deterioration of his relationship with Trump became the most publicly bitter.

In October last year, Mr Kelly called his former boss a fascist who had a "dictator approach" to running a country.

Former South Carolina congressman Mick Mulvaney became the next chief of staff.

Mr Mulvaney held the job for more than a year, after abandoning Mr Kelly's strict approach to managing the former president. 

He departed from the role in 2020 and was replaced by conservative congressman Mark Meadows.

Mr Meadows played a key role in negotiating pandemic relief legislation and was seen as a loyalist who stood by Trump during his re-election against Joe Biden.

Will the 'ice maiden' stick around?

Trump has previously said the biggest mistake he made was hiring the wrong people during his first term. 

In a victory speech earlier in the week, the president-elect thanked Ms Wiles and his other campaign manager Chris LaCivita. 

Trump added that while Ms Wiles likes to stay out of the spotlight, they call her the "ice maiden". 

Trump says Ms Wiles is an "ice maiden".      (AP Photo: Alex Brandon)

Several people who have worked with Ms Wiles said in interviews on Thursday she would provide stability and sage counsel to Trump in the White House, according to Reuters. 

Republican strategist Ford O'Connell said she is a "strong woman and a true leader with a proven track record of getting things done".

AP/Reuters